What has more than 25,000 participants in 10 countries and inspires creative play with things usually thrown away? The Global Cardboard Challenge! It is that time of year again, and this time I hope I’ve finally managed to post the information in plenty of time to use it. Inspired by the YouTube video sensation Caine’s Arcade, the Global Cardboard Challenge celebrates creativity by inviting young people to build anything they choose out of cardboard and recycled materials, culminating in a worldwide day of play.

This year you have two cardboard challenge options. For September, Imagination Foundation, sponsor of the Cardboard Challenge, has partnered with the upcoming movie Boxtrolls to create the Boxtrolls Cardboard Challenge. According to the pre-release materials, “Boxtrolls” are clever cavern-dwelling creatures who wear recycled cardboard boxes the way a turtle wears a shell. The Boxtrolls challenge, September 2-29, asks students to create their own Boxtrolls and post the pictures via Twitter or Instagram. The Boxtrolls challenge could provide a good introduction to a cardboard challenge, with a limited time frame and subject matter.

If you’d rather invite children to create anything they can dream, the full Global Cardboard Challenge is scheduled for October 11, 2014. If you’d like to sponsor a challenge for your class, school, or community, you can sign up to be part of the global event. Of course, if you’d just like to celebrate in your home, you can do that, too. You still are part of something really big! So grab some cardboard and some imagination, and get on board. And in the event you somehow missed the original video of Caine’s Arcade, take a look. It’s the beginning of something magic.